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お疲{つか}れ様{さま}でした is made of the following components:

> お + つかれ + さま + でした。

  1. A honorific affix (お).
  2. Stem of a verb means to get tired (つかれる).
  3. A Noun means appearance (さま).
  4. And でした.

Literally, it means "You appear tired" which creates meaning **A** in my mind,
but actually according to this
[link](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%8A%E7%96%B2%E3%82%8C%E6%A7%98%E3%81%A7%E3%81%97%E3%81%9F#Japanese)
it means:

> I appreciate your efforts, thank you very much, good work

which creates meaning **B** in my mind. Why does an expression that carries
the meaning of A word by word, but in actual context gives the meaning of B?


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meaning morphology
「お疲れ様でした」 word by word meaning vs. actual meaning?


The underlying message is "you worked hard, so you are tired". Hard work being
commendable.

An aside remark: it rhymes interestingly with a line in a famous Russian rock
song "where the (only) measure for work is tiredness". In that context it's a
reference to meaningless work, which only noticeable result is tiredness. So,
yes, it's a cultural thing.


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> being tired creates a negative meaning in the mind

Sure; generally, we would rather not be tired, than be tired.

Therefore, when someone else has done work, and become tired as a result, we
should be grateful.

> why does this term convey a positive meaning like the following:

Because we do not say it to encourage someone to keep going (we have other
phrases for that, like 頑張ってください); we say it after the person is done (for
now). Pay attention to the translation you found:

> I appreciate your _efforts_ , thank you very much, good _work_

Effort and work make people tired. If you point out the fatigue, you also
point out its cause.


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I'm new in linguistics topics but I think we can find the right answer in
semantics and pragmatics.

Semantics and pragmatics are two different branches of linguistics which the
former is involved with the literal meaning of phrases and sentences without
considering the context whereas the later deals with meaning in context.

Here I think 「お疲れ様でした」 is a good example that shows difference between
semantics and pragmatics in Japanese. It literally means _‘you look tired’_ ,
but in the context which appearing tired is caused by hard work it means
_‘appreciating your hard work’_.


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It's an idiom, it's a greeting, "Tough job well done." Don't get too deep into
analyzing it. It's sort of like taking apart "How do you do?".

But, if you must dive in, otsukaresama is a word on its own, so you really
can't separate it and consider it to have the meaning of being tired.

It's often shortened to "otuskare!", just like "How do you do?" may be
shortened to "Howdy!"


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